12 years away from SL. Need an update my Avatar and wardrobe to 2021 standards. Where can I start?

[Cracktus Cooljoke]

Title is self-explanatory. I probably need a new male skin, new rocker clothing and tux, new hair even, perhaps? What's "mesh"? What's this about skins and heads being sold separately?

Can anyone point me to where I can get help updating myself and get back into SL?

Edited November 16, 2021 by Cracktus Cooljoke

[Jaylinbridges]

You should ask this question in the YOUR AVATAR forum, where you will get tons of advice, or told to Search the hundreds of threads about updating in that forum, well probably both...

 

[Eddy Vortex]

2 hours ago, Cracktus Cooljoke said:

Title is self-explanatory. I probably need a new male skin, new rocker clothing and tux, new hair even, perhaps? What's "mesh"? What's this about skins and heads being sold separately?

Can anyone point me to where I can get help updating myself and get back into SL?

Welcome back.

Skell Dagger has some tutorials to get you up to speed.

https://virtualbloke.com/tutorials

 

[Lucia Nightfire]

8 hours ago, Cracktus Cooljoke said:

What's "mesh"?

What's in your wallet?

[Maryanne Solo]

Research thoroughly then enjoy Cracktus. 
Searched and got this, (not bodies - shapes & skins), dated 2021:

 

Edited November 16, 2021 by Maryanne Solo

[Alwin Alcott]

6 minutes ago, Maryanne Solo said:

Searched and got this, (not bodies - shapes & skins), dated 2021:

it's of course a good help, but the total biased advices in that clip are putting me off

[Profaitchikenz Haiku]

11 hours ago, Cracktus Cooljoke said:

Can anyone point me to where I can get help updating myself and get back into SL?

On easy option is to find your way to where the SL Newcomers arrive and see hat the new mesh starter avatars and clothes are like, it would perhaps be a simple way of trying out mesh for free before committing your wallet.

[Syo Emerald]

Prepare to feel like you are completely new to SL. Its a lot to catch up to. Most stuff surrounding avatars now relies on "mesh". Mesh has been introduced to SL quite a long time ago and you can think of it as basically replacing what sculpties did before, but better. Mesh are 3D objects and made a lot of things possible or allowed for a more realistic looking result, by not having large seams like some prim objects had (my favorite example are boots that go above the knee).

The biggest impact mesh had is with avatar parts. Custom mesh bodies and heads are smoother than the SL standard avatar. No sharp edges anymore. This requires clothes that fit this custom mesh and the market has adapted to support a range of different brands. With the recent technology of "bento" included you are also able to use texture layers again (like tattoos) without the need of a HUD that paints it onto the mesh (although that is also still used, both have up and downsides).

Oh and remember invisiprims? Those don't exist anymore. Some viewer update broke them a long time ago, but we now have alpha layers that are worn and basically do the same thing but better.

[Lillith Hapmouche]

12 minutes ago, Profaitchikenz Haiku said:

it would perhaps be a simple way of trying out mesh for free before committing your wallet.

I always thought that's what demos are for. Stupid me.

[Profaitchikenz Haiku]

1 hour ago, Lillith Hapmouche said:

I always thought that's what demos are for.

Indeed, but mostly they are aimed at the mesh-aware, my suggestion is that since the OP has no knowledge of what has gone on during their absence, the SL starters will be an easier introduction. No need to learn the complexities of appliers or alpha-cuts, just get straight in with BoM.

[Marianne Little]

15 hours ago, Cracktus Cooljoke said:

Title is self-explanatory. I probably need a new male skin, new rocker clothing and tux, new hair even, perhaps? What's "mesh"? What's this about skins and heads being sold separately?

Can anyone point me to where I can get help updating myself and get back into SL?

You should not hurry, The best is to look around, see people who's avatar you admire, and ask politely what they are wearing, Or use a HUD like this: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/HUD-What-is-SheHe-Wearing/16934115

Then, look for the stores, and if you don't find it, ask us in the Your Avatar section of the forum. And never, ever buy without trying on demos! The cost of mesh avatars is so high, you need to be sure before you buy. You can edit shape with the demo on, click on different tabs to see what they do, ask in the Your Avatar section again. 

It was a thread similar to this not so long ago, maybe you find ideas there?

https://community.secondlife.com/forums/topic/478720-bjors-avatar-thread-and-first-topic-too/

 

 

[Eggy UwU]

Second Life is complex. I will say, welcome back!
Down below I have a few resources that I have linked.

So, for starters, here are some videos that will be good to give you some advice:
New User Tutorial - Second Life
Creating An Avatar (Attempt) -- Fan Made

If you're wanting to search up places to maybe get new items, there are lovely places that are shopping events. Two websites that are basically a library full of new shopping events that are updated regularly:
Seraphim SL
GridAffairs

With all of this, if you are looking for a new body and head, the two stores I can recommend to start off with are:
Lelutka - Inworld
Legacy Meshbody (Free/Classic) - Inworld

Here is a thread of people posting their looks daily, maybe this can be a source of inspiration!:
How does your avatar look today? -- Thread

---

I hope these resources help!

Edited November 16, 2021 by Iggy UwU
Added another resource.

[Echelon Alcott]

Welcome back to SL, Cracktus!

The community, as usual, has jumped to help, and awesome information has already been shared.

I concur with @Eddy Vortex that Skell's tutorials are very helpful. I recently returned to SL after a long break as well, and Skell's How to "Get Dressed (Mesh Head & Mesh Body)" [link] was a great introduction to mesh bodies and heads. However, this tutorial refers to appliers to set the texture of your mesh body and hair, and the current trend is moving towards using Bakes on Mesh (BOM); in order to familiarize yourself with BOM, "A Quick Beginner's Guide to Using Bakes on Mesh" [link] offers great information.

@Marianne Little's advice is sound. Explore and decide what kind of looks you want, and demo everything before you make your final decision. Another approach you can take is to go to head skin stores and pick demos for looks that you like, and then decide what you'll look like; the head skins will have shapes to help you achieve the look depicted in the posters in the stores; use those shapes as a starting point and customize it to your exact specification.

To help you narrow down your choices, let me share with you a few data points. According to this survey [link] conducted at the beginning of this year, the male mesh body market is dominated by three main brands, Signature Gianni [SLurl], Belleza Jake [SLurl] and Legacy [SLurl]. The reason I mention how popular a mesh body is, is due to the fact that a larger market share is more enticing for clothing creators to create products for. And FYI only, there is a new entrant into the market called Inithium Kario [SLurl], which is a more modern body and seems very promising, but there is little clothing availability at the moment as it is so new. I should also mention that at the moment Belleza Jake is at 50% off, which makes its price attractive.

In terms of mesh heads, the statistics clearly show that the market is equally divided between two brands, each at around 40% of the market share, Lelutka [SLurl] and Catwa [SLurl].

For skins, the recommendation is to purchase the head and body skins at the same store and the same skin tone, to make the transition between the head and the body as seamless as possible. There are many stores available, but the most popular at the moment seem to be Not Found [SLurl] and Stray Dog [SLurl]. But please, do not limit yourself to these two; if you have questions, the community can help you with other quality options.

Hope this helps, and do not hesitate asking more questions!

P.S.: and don't forget, demo, demo, demo everything together before purchasing anything!

Edited November 16, 2021 by Echelon Alcott

[Maryanne Solo]

9 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

it's of course a good help, but the total biased advices in that clip are putting me off

I didn't watch it I am sorry.
I saw tons of other YT links about stuff for guys so thought there was a fair amount of variation there.

[Alwin Alcott]

9 hours ago, Maryanne Solo said:

I didn't watch it I am sorry.
 

no need to be sorry for, as newbie such video's are very helpfull to get "slow" and "fast" info for their questions.
SLow, because it's easy to play it over and over, and fast, because it's all the time available.

My remark was more meant to point at the intention of the maker, mostly it's, as this one, quite often aimed at a (sponsoring?) brand.